PitchingAce: PITCHER'S STRATEGIES

Baseball pitcher with the coach standing behind him in a practice session

Here are some strategies, tips and hints to help you, as a baseball pitcher, compete against batters in this great game of baseball and to enhance your ability to win each time you are pitching.

We Teach The Major League Baseball Pitching Form

Our Pitchers Learn To:

Prevent Arm Injury

Increase Velocity

Throw Consistent Strikes

Change Speeds

Handle Mental Aspects

FOR PITCHERS OF ALL AGES and
ECCENTRICITIES

HITTERS WILL TRY TO
PROTECT THEIR BIGGEST WEAKNESS

HITTER STANDS CLOSE TO THE PLATE
WANTS THE BALL IN.
Throw the ball away, or off-speed.

HITTER STANDS AWAY FROM THE PLATE
WANTS THE BALL AWAY. HE IS PROTECTING INSIDE.
Throw him in.

CLOSED STANCE
LIKES THE BALL AWAY, WANTS TO CONTROL THE MIDDLE OF THE PLATE AWAY.
Throw him down and in.
OPEN STANCE
WANTS THE BALL IN
Throw the ball away from him.

HANDS HELD HIGH
LIKES TO DROP THE HEAD OF THE BAT ON THE BALL
Throw him up and in

CROUCHES

WANTS THE BALL DOWN IN THE ZONE. Throw the ball up.
BE CAREFUL, HE LIKES THE BALL DOWN
Throw him up and in, on the hands

LONG STRIDE
Change speeds. Curve. Fastball up.
If the hitter cannot hit your fastball, keep throwing it. If you throw him off-speed pitches you are doing him a favor. If he fouls your fastball straight back, he is onto your fastball. Change speeds.You must throw inside to be successful. Don't be afraid to push the hitter off the plate, especially if he is leaning in, looking for the curveball.

WORKING AGAINST THE HITTER'S STANCE
• If a batter has a straight-up stance, close to the plate, pitch him inside.
• If he is crouched, pitch a little high.
• If he stands away from the plate, feed him outside pitches.
• The main objective is to take the power away from the hitter. Keep him from putting good wood on the ball.

MOVING THE STRIKE ZONE

BACKWARD AND FORWARD

ON THE HITTER

How do you move the strike zone backward or forward on the hitter?

You do it by changing speeds.If you start a hitter off with a fastball, and he's late on it, then give him a harder fastball inside and make him say, "Geez, I've really got to be quicker here.

Now the ball is deep in the strike zone. It's travelled farther over the plate before he's making contact. Now you have the batter thinking, "I've got to quicken up".

Here you take something off the pitch with a changeup or a curveball. Now you've got him cheating, that is, quickening his bat. He swings and the ball is not there yet. He's out in front of it. You've pulled the strike zone out toward the mound.

By the same token, if the batter gets around on your fastball and pulls it foul, throw him a slow pitch and make him quick again, and get him thinking, "I've got to wait. I've got to wait."

As soon as you've got him thinking he's got to wait, throw him hard inside again and push the strike zone backward.

"That which you do not know, the doing will quickly teach you."
-- Lao Tzu

NOLAN RYAN ON PITCHING INSIDE

“Throwing inside to a hitter is at the heart of aggressive pitching.

You cannot let the fear of hitting—or hurting—the hitter deter you from coming in with a fastball. Of course, it is essential to have confidence in your control and in your ability to throw inside. But don’t let your concern over hitting somebody and putting him on base take away from your aggressiveness.

It you teach a hitter that you’ll throw inside—if he knows that—then his whole approach to facing you is quite different”.

—Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan’s Pitcher’s Bible

KEEP THROWING THE FASTBALL

First and foremost you have to know your fastball is your best pitch. It is the best pitch for all pitchers to throw, at any level. So throw it. Locate it. Build your delivery to the point where you can put that fastball wherever and however you want to stick it in the strike zone.

That includes throwing inside, hard.

Suppose you are a knuckleball pitcher. Okay, so, how many fastballs do you throw, even though your main pitch is the knuckleball? I’ll bet you throw it a lot.

The pitch most thrown in major-league baseball is the fastball. It is the pitch that a pitcher gets more outs with than any other pitch.

Think about this: You have a four seam fastball. What that really means is that you have four pitches with that four seam. Why is that? You have four locations. You don’t even have to vary your speed on the pitch. Location alone will take care of that. That is, the perception of the hitter will see the pitch speed vary, even though it does not.
Again, work on this pitch. Learn to locate it. Learn what it means in your body to throw an effective fastball. It is the pitch you have the most control over, if you work at it enough.

MORE ABOUT THE FASTBALL

Your 4-seam fastball is actually four separate pitches. What!

How is that, you ask? Four separate pitches? Consider this: in the hitting zone are four quadrants, four separate areas you can easily throw to. Up and In, Down and Away, Up and Away, Up and Away. By throwing your pitches, one after the other, in those different areas, the hitter has to use his innate ability to hit the ball in those specific areas, or not hit it.

Different areas of the hitting zone require different abilities by the hitter in each zone. Moving the ball from one area to the next on a hitter makes life at the plate difficult for him. By throwing in those areas, you are changing his eye level up to down, down to up. Difficult to adjust for the hitter. When you throw inside you, if you throw deeply enough inside, you move his feet. He does not like that. Then you throw the next pitch away, up or down depending on where your last pitch was, well, you can see how you have an uncomfortable hitter.

Keep in mind, a hitter can only look for the ball on one side of the plate or the other. He cannot do both at the same time. Use that to your advantage.

Remember, your 4-seam fastball is the pitch you have the most control over. Make it work for you and against the hitter.

TAKE YOUR TIME

Every play, every out, every called ball and strike, every hit starts with you throwing the ball. The game waits for you. It is designed that way. Baseball is the only game where the defense controls the ball. That would be you, controlling the ball. So take your time. Settle yourself in before throwing each pitch. Relax. Be calm. If you are distracted in any way, step off the rubber, relax, regroup, then gather your concentrated thoughts and bring them into the moment right now.

Know what you intend to do. Know what you intend to have happen when you throw that baseball. See the shape of the pitch you throw before you throw it. Be 100% confident in every pitch you throw. Only throw a pitch you are 100% confident in. If the catcher calls for a pitch you are not confident it, shake him off. He is there to suggest. You agree or not. Remember, you get the W or the L. Throw when you are ready to throw.

Speaking of throwing when you are ready to throw, a good pacing is roughly twelve to fifteen seconds from the time you get the ball back from your catcher and the time you throw your next pitch. With that pacing your fielders will appreciate knowing and feeling that pacing, tempo and rhythm. They will be ready to make plays behind you. That consistent rhythm will enable them to be more alert, to be on the balls of their feet, to be in the game.

With that rhythm you are in a great position to throw your best pitch. And, every pitch must be your best pitch. Every pitch is the beginning, middle and end of every game that ever was or will ever be.

As a pitcher you are your own coach when you are on the mound. There might be 50,000 people in the stands, or no one, with one bench yelling encouragement while the other, discouragement, or not.

Whatever the case, you are alone, you are by yourself, with a job that must be done. It is up to you to get it done.

You must know what adjustments to make if you suddenly find yourself in a situation where the ball is not doing what you want it to do the way you want it to do it. This is an extremely important part of your job, of pitching. You must learn your game and know it well. At the same time, you must maintain a calm inner being. You must be relaxed.

Learning the art of pitching takes lots of time, study, and infinite patience to be an effective pitcher. If there is a perfect way to do something, it can be learned. Learn the perfect way to pitch, and then practice diligently. Learning how to maintain a calm inner being, being completely relaxed, is easier than you think.

Scroll down for more information on both these pitching aspects.

"If you want to be the best, you must do what the best do."

---Skip Murray

"That which you do not know, the doing will quickly teach you."
---Lao Tzu

Baseball players, as is the case with all athletes, perform at their highest level when they are relaxed. When the mind is clear the body is body to move freely and easily. When the body is moving freely, the athlete is able to perform at the highest level.

The question is, how does the athlete get to the point where he or she is constantly and consistently competing at that highest level? In other words, how does the athlete get to the point where his or her mind and body are completely clear and performing at peak level? Keep on reading, here is your answer.

One highly effective method is to use subliminal messaging software. This conditions your subconscious mind to work with your body at its optimum level. The technique is simple, you simply watch the proper subliminal message program as recommended, and your subconscious mind automatically learns to do the right things at the right time. It is as easy as that.